Del Mar Daily Notebook

DEL MAR DAILY NOTEBOOK

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2007

by Brian P. Turner

Wednesday's featured stakes offering was the Cougar II H. for three-year-olds

and upward going 11 furlongs over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. A. P. Xcellent

(A.P. Indy) was sent to the gate as the heavy favorite in the small field of

six off of his performance last out in the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) where he

attempted to lead the field from gate to wire only to lose by a nose at the wire

to Lava Man (Slew City Slew). The one concern regarding A. P. Xcellent had to be

that he had yet to visit the winner's circle in three prior tries on the lawn.

There was little doubt that he would be on the lead, though, and no horse in the field

appeared capable of running with him early.

Just as expected, A. P. Xcellent bounded out of the gate and guided through

the field through opening fractions that went in :25 and :49 2/5. By the time

the field had covered six furlongs in 1:14 1/5, long shot Bravo Maestro

(Stravinsky) moved up to challenge, so jockey Mike Smith dropped A. P. Xcellent

back into a nice stalking position. Once the field hit the stretch, A. P.

Xcellent made one final run at the leader but had nothing left in the tank to

sustain his bid, fading to finish next to last.

In the end, it was ATLANDO (Ire) (Hernando [Fr]) who closed from off the pace

with a nice move through the stretch drive to hit the finish line 1 1/2

lengths clear. The bay paid a solid $23.40 for the victory as he

was coming off of a lackluster performance in the Eddie Read H. (G1) in which he

finished last, beaten by 10 1/4 lengths. In all fairness, that was his

first start in nearly five months, and that effort may have served as little more

than a tune up for the performance he put in today.

Toasted (Hennessy) rallied from last and made a nice closing move through the

stretch to cross the wire in second, a length clear of Bravo Maestro in third.

There were five sprints contested over the Polytrack Wednesday with horses on

or near the pace winning four of them. As for the one route, it was won by a

runner closing from off the pace. In addition to the feature, there was one

other turf route on the day which was won by a front runner.

Michael Baze added one to his total today and still leads the way in the

jockey standings with 18 for the meet. Joe Talamo booted home an impressive four

winners on the day and gained some serious ground on the leader as he has now

taken over the second spot in the standings with 15. Corey Nakatani went winless

but remains in third with 12.

Peter Miller's lone starter on the day did not make it into the winner's

circle, but he still leads the way in the trainer standings with six for the

meet. Doug O'Neill, Bobby Frankel and Rafael Beccera are tied for the second

spot with four winners each.

Pick 6 players get ready as no one put all the pieces of the puzzle together

today, leaving a carryover of $133,600 for Thursday's card.

Horses to Watch

3RD - HOTTEST (Unusual Heat) was content to lay well off the pace early in

this Cal-bred maiden special weight event through an opening quarter that went

in :23 before moving up to stalk the pace through a half that went in :47. Once

the field hit the stretch, the dark bay advanced to challenge for the lead and dug in gamely,

fighting all the way to the wire to hit the finish line in front by a nose.

6TH - SO LONG SONOMA (American Chance) was content to lay off the pace early

in this allowance/optional claiming event through opening fractions of :22 and

:45 3/5. Once she hit the stretch though, the four-year-old filly closed with an

explosive turn of foot and was moving beautifully late only to miss catching the

winner by a nose at the wire. This marks the fourth second-place finish in a row

for the bay, and she won't be denied much longer.

Tomorrow's Outlook - Thursday, August 2

Thursday's 2ND race is an allowance/optional claiming event

for fillies and mares, three-years-old and up, going eight furlongs on the

Polytrack. FLEETHEART (Northern Afleet) saw her undefeated record go up in

flames last out on July 21 when she tried the turf for the first time in the Osunitas H.

here when she finished last, beaten by 6 1/2 lengths. Prior to that

effort, the bay had reeled off four wins in a row, with two of those victories

coming on the synthetic surface at Hollywood. The four-year-old filly is back

at a level and on a surface where she will be competitive and could prove to be

tough to run down if she is allowed to have her way on the lead early.DONA AMELIA (Chi) (Big Blue) appears to be the one most

likely to be closing from off the pace should Fleetheart begin to tire. The

gray is coming off a fourth-place finish in the A Gleam Invitational H. (G2) at Hollywood,

where she was in last at the half before closing with a nice turn of foot late. VELVET MOONLITE (Malibu Moon) appears to be the one most likely to challenge

for the lead early. The dark bay has a blazing early turn of foot that could

compromise Fleetheart's chances of making it into the winner's circle.

GREAT OPINIONS (Rahy) will be dropping out of graded stakes

company after finishing fifth, beaten by 7 1/4 lengths, last out in the Milady

Breeders' Cup H. (G2) at Hollywood. The bay is another who can close from off

the pace and will be running late should the speed burn out. HEY HEY RENEE

(Anziyan) also does her best running on or near the lead, but she doesn't appear

to be able to keep up with the top two in here.

Thursday's Best Plays

1ST - RING OF FRIENDSHIP (General Meeting) appears to be

capable of stealing this 1 1/16-mile turf claiming event on the lead. The

seven-year-old gelding reeled off three second-place finishes in a row on the

grass before being claimed last out and moved into the barn of trainer Brian

Koriner. The high percentage trainer wins with 23 percent of his starters off

the claim and 25 percent of the time when moving them up a class. The bay should

be able to control the pace early here and still have plenty left in the tank at

the end for the run to the finish line.

4TH - JUPITER'S STONE (Sky Classic) failed as the favorite

last out after stumbling at the start of a state-bred maiden special weight

event on the grass. The chestnut returns in that same condition today and

appears to tower over this field as he has a more than seven-point advantage in BRIS

Prime Power and also leads the way in BRIS Class rating. Hall of Fame trainer

Ron McAnally's runners started the meet cold but seem to be heating up a bit

now. The colt could be sitting on a huge effort here.